Using the Mouse

The mouse can be used for a lot more than just clicking links, including powerful mouse gestures and flexible drag-and-drop operations.

Basic mouse usage

Operation	Examples of use
Click left button	Click a link Select a bookmark in the Hotlist
Click right button	Multiple options for a link Multiple options for items in the Hotlist Customize the user interface Save image or view image properties
Double-click left button and click	Translate or look up a word Open a bookmark
Click, move mouse, let go	Drag page icon to Main, Page, Personal or Bookmarks bar Drag page icon to Bookmarks panel Drag a button to a panel or a toolbar
Hold `Ctrl` and click	Select multiple bookmarks
Hold `Shift` and click	Open a link in a new page Close page on Page bar
Hold `Shift` and double-click	Open a bookmark in a new page
Hold `Ctrl` + `Shift` and click	Open a link in the background
Hold `Ctrl` + `Shift` and double-click	Open a bookmark in the background

Usually, Shift means "open in new page", and Ctrl + Shift means "open in background". Right-clicking something usually opens a context menu with multiple choices.

Mouse gestures

Mouse gestures exist for most frequently performed operations.

Example: Pressing Ctrl on your keyboard while rolling the wheel on your mouse activates zooming.

Navigation gestures

Action	How to do it
Go to previous page	Method 1: hold right button, click left button Method 2: hold right button, move mouse left
Go to next page	Method 1: hold left button, click right button Method 2: hold right button, move right
Go to parent directory	Hold right button, move up then left
Go to home page	Double-click in empty page
Reload page	Hold right button, move up then down
Stop loading	Hold right button, move up

Page gestures

Action	How to do it
Browse in new page	Method 1: hold right button, move down Method 2: double-click in workspace or on page bar
Duplicate page	Hold right button, move down then up
Restore or maximize page	Hold right button, move up then right
Minimize page	Hold right button, move down then left
Close page	Method 1: hold right button, move down then right Method 2: hold right button, move right left right

Link gestures

Action	How to do it
Open link in new page	Move mouse pointer to link and hold right button, move down
Open link in new background page	Move mouse pointer to link and hold right button, move down then up

Wheel gestures

Action	How to do it
Scroll up and down	Roll mouse wheel up and down
Zoom in and out	Hold `Ctrl` key, roll mouse wheel
Move back and forth in page history	Hold `Shift` key, roll mouse wheel
Panning	Click mouse wheel, move mouse

Drag and drop

You can drag and drop just about anything in order to browse faster and easily customize the user interface.

How to drag and drop

The drag-and-drop procedure is simple:

Move the mouse pointer to the item you want to drag
Click (and hold) the left mouse button
Move the mouse pointer to where you want to drop the item
Release the mouse button

Items you can drag

The following items can be dragged:

Links in Web pages
Images in Web pages
Items on the Personal bar
Buttons on Opera's toolbars
Hotlist items
Tabs on the Page bar
Items in Customize toolbars

Dragged items can be dropped on:

All toolbars
The Hotlist (and panels)
The Page bar
The Web-page area
Your computer desktop

Examples

Listed below are examples of convenient drag-and-drop actions:

Action	How to do it
Save page address as bookmark	Drag page icon from Address bar to Hotlist
Bookmark a link	Drag link from Web page to Hotlist
Download file (e.g. image)	Drag link (or image) to Transfers panel
Show bookmark on Personal bar	Drag bookmark from Hotlist to Personal bar
Bookmark image and show on Personal bar	Drag image from Web page to Personal bar
Rearrange order of toolbar buttons	Drag buttons around
Move buttons between toolbars	Drag button to other toolbar
Open page in a new (separate) application window	Drag tab from Page bar to computer desktop

The best way to learn more about dragging and dropping is simply to play around and discover all the possibilities. Most combinations of drag and drop will produce the most natural, anticipated result.

Tip: Opera toolbars that support drag and drop have a context-menu (right-click) option for restoring toolbar defaults.